Monday, March 8, 2010

The music-blaring tuque

Sil likes to listen to music while she skis, but those ear buds keep falling out. Not a big deal in most circumstances, but a pain when you have to deal with gloves, ski poles and the loss of all sensation in your fingertips.

Personally I like to keep my ears peeled for signs of being ambushed by trolls, but I thought I might be able to cobble together a music-playing beanie. I used: a beanie (has to be lined) and some speakers (below).

You're supposed to use old speakers "that were just lying around" for these type of projects but I just bought some instead.

I then let Sil model the cap so I could use magic marker to see where her ears would be relative to the brim.

Then I cut slits on the inside of the cap and slid the speakers in. I cut two small holes on the inside on the back to route the cable through.

At this point the holes and slits are sort of elastic, but you need to sew along the edges to prevent unraveling. After that the size of the holes are no longer negotiable. This is good to know as you might want to take out the speakers if you're ever going to wash the cap.

The sewing business will also make the holes larger.

The beanie was then tested (above) and the music was deemed as sounding "rather woolly". I could have done this testing myself except my skull is so large it would impair the elasticity of the cap. And this kind of headgear really should fit rather tight and snug on the intended user.

I cut extra holes, centered on the speakers, to improve sound quality, and sewed around all the edges. I had some Velcro lying around which I thought I was going to have to use in some way, but it proved to be unnecessary.

Here's the tuque in the field. You can see the speakers jutting out, slightly, but not much.

1 comment:

Anonymous
said...

I have a fur hat that is so thick that I cannot even hear my own thoughts......it has some funny flaps to protect ears, and tiny holes to let sound through, which it doesn't. But I sort of dislike that outdoorsy people listen to music while out, so load that they don't hear when I yell: "løype" and want to pass with my dogteam. Instead I startle them when my 8 wolves pass in rapid speed and thye look puzzled not to have noticed...... (says one of the not so near neighbours J)

About

Not a hermit any more, strictly speaking.

I have lived in assorted woodland cabins almost my entire adult life, lately five years on my own land, five miles from the nearest road. No mains electricity, no running water. After a decade of mushing, I am now preparing myself for fatherhood and spending more time in The Towns.